“no, you’ll do it this way”: Lawrence Weschlen, “Artist in Exile,” The New Yorker, Dec. 5, 1994.
It would impede the creative process: Ibid.
“The human is a violent animal”: Polanski quoted in Cinefantestique, vol. 5, no. 3, 1976.
“I doubt if I shall ever again”: Polanski, Roman, 327.
“Roman was down for the count”: Sandford, Polanski: A Biography, 183.
“Robert and I couldn’t understand”: Julie Payne to author.
“The script’s a fuckin’ mess”: Evans, Kid Stays in the Picture, 258.
Polanski had always wanted to make: Roman Polanski to author.
“Anyone who loves the cinema”: Paul D. Zimmerman, “Blood and Water,” Newsweek, Jul. 1, 1974.
Huston’s film of The Maltese Falcon: “Michael Owen: News of the Arts, Roman, Sweet and Sour,” Roman Polanski Biographical File, Margaret Herrick Library, Los Angeles.
The Glass Key and This Gun for Hire: Charles Higham, “Polanski: ‘Rosemary’s Baby and After,”’ New York Times, Sept. 23, 1973.
“In almost direct opposition to MGM”: Thomas Schatz, The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era, 75.
a much-needed mainstream success: Roman Polanski to author.
Evans even offered: Robert Evans to author.
“It was a bunch of friends”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fxzIUK3S60.
“Every road I drove on”: Giesbert, “Roman’s Novel” in Roman Polanski: Interviews, 109.
was far too long at 180 pages: Polanski, Roman, 351.
Sylbert agreed: Richard Sylbert and Sylvia Townsend, Designing Movies (Praeger, 2006).
so did Nicholson, Evans explained: Robert Evans to author.
“in reality,” he said, “the capitalist”: Roman Polanski Interviews, 61.
“get away clean,”: Ibid.
“I don’t mean this unkindly”: George Stevens Jr., Great Moviemakers, 661.
“but he did succeed”: Towne, “Dialogue on Film.”
“I felt this was too romantic”: Giesbert, “Roman’s Novel” in Roman Polanski: Interviews, 61.
“We were really very critical”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSZzOk2gETU.
greatest thing he had yet written: Julie Payne to author.
even more unsatisfying: Roman Polanski to author.
Dick Sylbert’s Chinese deco place: Polanski, Roman, 352.
“It changed apparently”: Caryn James, “A Life in Exile from America, from Memory,” New York Times, Nov. 17, 1993.
“Sharon’s murder and the landing”: Robinson, “Polanski’s Inferno.”
“[f]rom really bucolic suburbs”: “Roman Polanski by Thom Mount.”
“the most dramatic change” Ibid.
“The hippie movement has degenerated”: Polanski, Playboy interview.
walked out of his office: Julie Payne to author.
“It broke Zieg’s heart”: Ibid.
a bowl of cash: Benjamin Svetkey, “Jack on Jack,” Entertaiment Weekly, Jan. 3, 2003.
opulent cocaine pyramid: Confidential source to author.
“a sexy house”: Polanski, Roman, 352.
“there’s no more beautiful city”: Ibid.
he presented Towne a book: “Great to Be Nominated Part Three, Aug. 14, 2006.
“That’s enough of that dog!”: http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2009/10/robert-towne-hollywood-interview.html.
They began by one-lining the script: Academy Screening, Nov. 18, 2004.
the office door: Paul Iorio “Sleuthing ‘Chinatown,’” Los Angeles Times July 8, 1999: 6.
“which I felt would have been”: Brady, Craft of the Screenwriter, 441.
“You [should] never show things”: Iorio, “Sleuthing ‘Chinatown.’”
“[i]t changes the rapport between them”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-hOU56WwU.
she can’t satisfy Gittes: Towne, “Dialogue on Film.”
“I think perhaps”: Ibid.
“posting [pages] on the door”: Academy Screening, Nov. 18, 2004.
girls promenading down: Julie Payne to author.
“People can go crazy sitting”: Iorlo, “Sleuthing ‘Chinatown.’”
“Bob,” Polanski asked: Martin Kasindorf “Hot Writer,” Newsweek, Oct. 14, 1974.
“I have no time to think”: A. Alvarez, “Can Polanski Make A Star of Polanski,” New York Times, Feb. 22, 1976.
“resilience,” Towne observed: Weschler, “Artist in Exile.”
“Winning an argument”: Susanna Moore to author.
“divine justice, or any kind of plan”: Higham, “Polanski.”
“the whole crowd”: Nandu Hinds to author.
pile together on the bed: Sharmagne Leland-St. John to author.
Roman loved people: Nandu Hinds to author.
“Once I was there”: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/director-roman-polanski-discusses-the-great-calamities-of-his-life-a-932931.html.
“I don’t think there was a day”: Iorio, “Sleuthing ‘Chinatown.’”
“This little group”: Anthea Sylbert to author.
still didn’t get Chinatown: Robert Evans to author.
“Nobody I spoke with”: Nandu Hinds to author.
“No one understands”: Robert Evans to author.
“Evans knew Towne’s father”: Bart, Infamous Players, 197.
Towne, for his part, procrastinated: Roman Polanski to author.
“He put up more resistance”: Sylbert and Townsend, Designing Movies, 175.
Dick Sylbert, paying a visit: Ibid.
“I’ve got to go home”: Roman Polanski to author.
“Robert tried many ways”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-hOU56WwU.
“why don’t you speak”: Barrie Chase to author.
“entirely naked”: Ibid.
“If I stand without a gun”: https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0115705d073c970c-pi.
On her way into the swimming: Barrie Chase to author.
“It’s your mother”: Ibid.
“Robert was absolutely resistant”: Julie Payne to author.
“Initially,” Towne said: Towne, “Dialogue on Film.”
the farther they would stray: Roman Polanski to author.
“My own feeling”: Towne, “Dialogue on Film.”
“You have to show violence”: Weinraub, “If You Don’t Show Violence.”
“But then occasionally”: Chris Peachment, “No Escaping Roman’s History,” The Times (London), Apr. 19, 1995.
Leaving the theater: Roman Polanski to author.
What made him remember: Mark Cousins, “Roman Polanski: The Insider,” Sight and Sound 15, no. 10 (Oct. 2005): 20, 22–24.